Just before the release of the controversial memo by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) issued a statement blasting Nunes for moving forward on releasing the memo after the U.S. intelligence community had urged him not to.

Days before the memos release, the FBI released its own statement expressing that it had “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy.”

“In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy,” McCain’s statement read. “Russia employed the same tactics it has used to influence elections around the world, from France and Germany to Ukraine, Montenegro and beyond.”

McCain argued that Russia is succeeding in its plot to cripple the U.S. by sowing the threads of distrust into the forefront of politics.

“The latest attacks against the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests ― no party’s, no President’s, only Putin’s,” McCain added. “The American people deserve to know all the facts surrounding Russia’s ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation must proceed unimpeded. Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the lens of politics and manufacturing political sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in the days prior to the memo’s release had both called upon Nunes to resign from his position as House Intelligence Chairman. Pelosi even went as far as to dictate a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) to remove Nunes over “deliberately dishonest actions” that “make him unfit to serve as Chairman, he must be removed immediately from his position,” she said.

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